LIVER-CIRRHOSIS - EPIDEMIOLOGIC ASPECTS IN ITALY

In order to improve our knowledge of the incidence of liver cirrhosis in Italy, we conducted two epidemiological studies. The first study sh owed that about 15% of asymptomatic subjects with persistent increase in alanine aminotransferase had histological evidence of cirrhosis. In this setting, cirrhosis was associated with viral aetiology in 91.4% of cases. In the second study, which enrolled cirrhosis patients from 13 centres from all regions of the country, viral infections were dete cted in 82.6% of patients, the large majority of whom, 71.2%, were pos itive for hepatitis C virus (HCV). Alcohol abuse was present in 8.7% o f cases as exclusive aetiological factor, All the patients were classi fied according to Child-Pugh and were scored as class A in 62.4%, as c lass B in 23.8% and as class C in 13.8% of cases. The age distribution showed that about 55% of cirrhosis patients were under 60 years of ag e 34.3% of them had a Child-Pugh score of class B or C. These data sho w that HCV infection represents the predominant aetiological factor of cirrhosis in Italy and that cirrhosis can be found frequently in asym ptomatic subjects.